Our scripture reading this evening comes from Hebrews, beginning at verse 1 of chapter 3 through chapter 4, verse 6. Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses. As much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant to testify to the things that were to be spoken later. But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house. If indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years. Therefore, I was provoked with that generation and said, they always go astray in their heart. They have not known my ways. As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them. But the message they heard did not benefit them because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest. As he has said, as I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest, although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way, and God rested on the seventh day from all his works. And again in this passage he said, they shall not enter my rest. Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day today, saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden his hearts. your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. And now would you join me in reciting Lord's Day 38 of the Heidelberg Catechism on page 52 in the back of your Psalter hymnal and I'll ask that question at Lord's Day 38 question 103 the topic of tonight's message brothers and sisters what is God's will for us in the fourth commandment For the thirst of the gospel, ministry, and education for it, community, and community, and especially on the test of the day of our press, I pray to the leaders and assembly of God's people to learn what God's Word teaches, to participate in the sacraments, to pray to God publicly, and to bring Christian offerings to the Lord. Second, at every day of my life, I rest from my evil ways. Let the Lord work with me through his spirit. And so he gave my name in his life, the eternal Sabbath. Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your Sabbath. Thank you for this rest that you still hold out to us, even to us who were no people. To us who were not in the wilderness. To us who were not in the legacy of those in the wilderness. And yet, Father, have entered that heavenly rest that the earthly Canaan only foreshadowed. Help us, Father, to understand these marvelous words. For we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Remember when I was a kid visiting my relatives in North Texas. We would go to Lake Texoma for our family reunions. And when I was that little, I could still recall, I don't think it's like this anymore. I know that it's not like this anymore. But in those days, a certain section of the store would be roped off. You might ask, what were you doing going to the store anyway? Well, I was from California. I was raised in a non-reformed background where we didn't really have much of a seriousness about the Lord's Day. So I wandered into this drugstore, and it was interesting to see what was roped off, the sections that were roped off that had to do with bicycles and bats and balls and baseball mitts. Yet it was rather odd, because I also recall walking by the soda fountain, which said, no coloreds served here. A lot of people, I think, in ways very similar to the days of Jesus, came to associate God's law with hypocrisy. Many of those who were outcasts, many of those who wandered away from the faith of Israel, wandered away because their burden wasn't light. Their yoke was not easy. They did not give them rest, as Jesus prosecuted the religious leaders for in his famous woes. I remember also, not that long ago, giving a lecture at a Lutheran seminary where even the Lutheran minister during the chapel service, an elderly pastor was talking about how in my day we would go to church three times on Sunday. Now there's a certain wisdom about learning how the Lord's Day has been celebrated and to measure the extent to which we have fallen off of that. But I doubt very seriously that we're going to recover widespread practice of the Lord's Day based on the, well, in my day argument. It kind of sounds a lot like the argument my father used to give me when he would say, well, in my day, I had to walk up the hill both ways in the snow. You have it easy. You know, it's really interesting how the Lord's Day can be abused not only by not celebrating God's rich gifts of word and sacrament, being with his people, using the day as it was intended, but also abusing it, not using it for the purpose it was intended, by excessive rigor that really has nothing at all to do with the purpose of the Lord's day. Just this last week, I was reading a story in a secular magazine about the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, and one older gentleman was talking about how the Sabbath was celebrated there, and he was rather proud of the fact that the minister, on very rainy, windy Scottish days, which could be in summer, the minister would not even stop to pick up even an older person who was walking on the way to church against the howling gales because that would be a violation of the Sabbath. It kind of reminds you of Jesus' disciples picking grain on the Sabbath and being upbraided by the Pharisees, to which Jesus replied, The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. And perhaps part of the reason why a lot of, not only non-Christians, but a lot of professing Christians don't take the Lord's Day very seriously and fill the Lord's Day with all sorts of other things, at least part of it could be, because of a reaction against a Sabbath they never knew. The mall is filled, as you probably notice sometimes, on the Lord's Day. It's one of the busiest days at the mall. Showing where our heart is as a country. We're consumers, first and foremost, not worshipers. Or at the games, entertainment has become our God. And so the Lord's Day, 38, brings us back to center here. And one of the marvelous things about this statement in the Heidelberg Catechism is that it points to something greater than in my day. It talks about a new day, the today that the Sabbath brings into this world as the powers of the age to come break in on this passing evil age. And so that's what I want to focus on as we look at this wonderful passage from the writer to the Hebrews. First of all, the passage assumes that we already know, as I'm sure you do, the Sabbath is rooted in God's lordship as creator. It not only comes into existence with Israel at Mount Sinai, but it is something that Israel is called to do because God rested from his works in creation. In Exodus, that is explicitly mentioned. The Sabbath commandment grounded in creation. And then in Deuteronomy, it's grounded in redemption, just as you were slaves in Egypt and now are living in the land of freedom, the land of Canaan. Treat your sojourners in the same way. Give them liberty. Give them freedom on this day. Genesis 2.2, we see the foundation of this, where God rested from all of his works. And this rest is not the rest that we usually associate with the consequence of being tired. After we've worked throughout the week, it's time for a rest. God doesn't need physical rest. It's not that kind of a rest. It's the kind of rest that a king enjoys after his victory, after his conquest, after he has rest from his enemies on all sides, as it were. He takes his throne and he surveys all that he has conquered, all that has now become part of his kingdom, All that he has built by his might and his power and all under his dominion gives him tribute and praise. That's precisely the picture that we have in Genesis chapter 2 where all of the creatures represented by their rulers are paraded sort of like the Olympics, you know, where they bring the standard of each country in that opening ceremony. Each of the creature kings comes representing that part of the dominion that in its totality represents God's wide reign. And of course, at the head of that parade was Adam. Adam, created a little lower than the angels, with dignity, with royal authority as God's viceroy to lead creation, in imitation of God through that work week as it were into that Sabbath rest taking His throne beside Yahweh Himself in that everlasting Sabbath day and bringing the whole creation with Him. So the Sabbath always pointed not to something here and now but to something that yet lay in the future something yet to be attained through trial, work there would be conquest leading to rest and that rest was royal enthronement. And just as God completed his work and entered his rest, man was to complete his work and enter God's rest as well. What a wonderful privilege to enter God's rest. But he did so, very importantly, through three activities that are signaled by three prominent verbs. Guard, keep, and subdue. Guard, keep, and subdue. These are not passive activities. These are things that Adam was supposed to do as God's viceroy, especially with Satan hanging out in the garden. The first sin wasn't Eve's fault. The first sin was Adam's fault, allowing the serpent in the first place to coexist with the people of God in God's garden. It's called a purge, the holy land of all the enemies of God. Before there could be rest, the serpent had to be cast out. And Adam failed to do that. He failed to guard, keep, and subdue. The same trial was faced by Israel. Work, conquest, leading to rest from all enemies. Israel, too, was to subdue. Israel, too, was to guard and to keep. In fact, those three verbs are very frequently found, especially in the prophets, as the obligation of the high priests and the kings in Israel. And so the weekly Sabbath enshrined this pattern of work and rest for the people of God. As I say in Exodus 20.11, it's grounded in creation. In Deuteronomy 5.15, it's grounded in redemption from slavery. And it's a temporal, physical rest. Just as the Old Covenant was about temporal, physical promises, long life in the land, not eternal life, so also the Sabbath referred simply to one day out of the week. And it was primarily associated with physical rest, cessation of all labor. And that's why you have all of the laws in the civil and ceremonial code of the Old Covenant, so many of those laws explicitly outlining what can and cannot be done for fear of breaking the Sabbath. You see it in the wilderness, that generation that is so prominent here, that is recalled by the writer to the Hebrews, that generation that was faithless in the wilderness. They were called to gather God's miraculous provision on the six days, but then not gather on the Sabbath. For it is a Sabbath unto the Lord. They were like Adam, supposed to give that tribute to God that all we have is yours. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. God will provide for us. That's what faith is. Faith is basically saying God will provide. God will provide for my temporal welfare. God will more importantly provide for my everlasting salvation. God will provide the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Letting go of one day. That's hard for us to do. Even one day. Letting go of that one day. And not trying to engineer our way into paradise. Just to let go. To trust God's promises. To taste and see that the Lord is good. The Lord will provide. And so Deuteronomy 1 recounts that tragic episode in the wilderness. Psalm 95, that I read at the beginning, summarizes what happened in that tragic episode of Israel's history. And that psalm is very much at the heart of the exposition we find in Hebrews chapters 3 and 4. What it reminds us is that the law without the gospel is a ministry of death. And the purpose of the Sabbath, more than anything else, the purpose of the Sabbath was not just to arrange temporal affairs, but to direct eternal hope in something that we do not yet possess fully in its consummated form, of something that is yet ahead, something that is promised to us, that we have heard, but we have not yet fully seen. And so the passage can be broken up into three comparisons that the writer draws between a greater covenant and a lesser covenant, a greater mediator and a lesser mediator, and a greater rest and a lesser rest. Notice, first of all, that it's from lesser to greater. The argument is from lesser to greater, not from bad to good. The old covenant was good. It served its purpose. It was a schoolmaster. Setting up with brilliant emblems that whole economy that directed Israel's hope or should have directed Israel's hope to the coming Messiah who would be its fulfillment. The context of Hebrews is very much the context of Israel in the wilderness. It's not surprising that under divine inspiration, the writer to the Hebrews selected this episode in Israel's history because that's very similar to what his audience was experiencing. They were primarily Jews. That's why it's to the Hebrews, not to any particular city, but spread out all over the place. He even refers, when he gets to the business about the temple, about the worship, the cultic rituals of the law, to talking about the tabernacle worship, not the temple worship, which, of course, was more recent in Israel's history. And so, really, he places his hearers not in Jerusalem in his own day, but in the wilderness in the days of the fathers. Now, why did he do that? Well, he did it because there were persecutions. And as often happens during times of testing, times of persecution, many Jewish Christians were going back to the shadows of the law, which is one reason why this had to have been written before 70 A.D., because in 70 A.D. the temple was destroyed. The writer of the Hebrews surely would have taken notice of that. That would have made his whole argument. He could have made the letter about half as long. But the fact that he belabors the point that this temple worship cannot satisfy any more than the tabernacle worship could illustrates that it was written before the destruction of the temple. And so he places his readers in that context. Look, don't go back to the shadows. This is like wanting to rewind the movie to the first part after you've come to the denouement, the climax of the whole story. Why would you want to go back? The promises are great, but the fulfillment is greater. And furthermore, if you do go back to the shadows of the law when the reality has come, you apostatize. There is no salvation there. There is only salvation here and that's exactly what that regime was announcing. And so the whole book is filled with the conjunction therefore or so then. Therefore or so then. He makes these arguments based on God's promises and Israel's history grounded in God's saving work in the past, on that basis, exhorting them to carry on, to endure to the end and be saved. So it alternates between doctrinal argument and practical application. A lot of the people, especially those who were going back to the shadows of the law, still had a place for Jesus. He was a great angel. But you know, maybe it's not so bad being Jewish. Not just to avoid the persecution that the sect of Jewish Christians are enduring. But perhaps that's where the truth lies. Look at the glory. Look at the glory of the sacrifices and the worship. And it's so magnificent. It's beautiful. It's majestic. Angels mediated the law of Mount Sinai. Moses was the great mediator of that covenant. It gave us the law. It gave us the priesthood. Are we really going to turn our back on everything in order to embrace Jesus Christ as our prophet, priest, and king? So, so far, the writer has told us in chapters 1 and 2 that Jesus is God's living word. In the past, he spoke through the prophets, but now he's spoken through his Son. Furthermore, he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of God's nature. He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, superior to angels, much less to human beings. You see, there's the image there of that everlasting Sabbath. Once He had fulfilled His trial through suffering, He sat down at the right hand of God. He's the last Adam. He's the true Israel who fulfilled the trial, the six days of labor, and conquered his foes, cast Satan out of God's temple, and took his rest of enthronement at the Father's right hand. He guards, keeps, and subdues in God's kingdom. And to which of the angels, the writer asks, Has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? That was about David in Psalm 110, but here it's applied to Christ. Christ is the one who is subduing the enemies of God even as we speak. Therefore, here's the application, we must pay much closer attention, he says, to what we have learned, lest we drift away from it. If the old covenant, he says, mediated by angels, carried a deadly threat, as it did at Mount Sinai, he says, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation announced by the Lord himself as the mediator of this covenant? Another argument. He says, God subjected the world not to angels, but to man. Now, he says, in putting everything in subjection to him, He left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him, but we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might take death for everyone. He goes on to say that in his incarnation he became like his brothers, feeling their weakness, feeling their temptation. And in his suffering, he bore our sins. In his resurrection, he destroyed the power of death and Satan. Yet the writer says he himself was tested by what he suffered. Only this time, he passed. Our true Adam, our faithful Israel. And that's why the writer says, now in the passage I've just read, Jesus is greater than Moses, and he's greater on three accounts. Very briefly, he's greater because it's a greater covenant. It's a point that he expands on in chapter 8 where he says, the old covenant, look, you're driving without a license. The old covenant doesn't exist anymore. It's passing away. It's fading away. And certainly when the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D., any hope of restoring the Sinai covenant with the temple worship was forever lost. Jesus is greater than Moses. Jesus is the mediator of a greater covenant. Therefore, holy brothers, he says, you who share in a heavenly calling, see, not an earthly calling that Moses presided over, those of you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the messenger and high priest of our confession. Our confession here probably refers to an early creed, as it seems obviously to do in chapter 10, verse 23. Speaks of our confession of faith. And we find such formulas in Hebrews 4.4, 2 Corinthians 9.13, and 1 Timothy 6.12. Hold on to that confession. And in verses 1 through 6 of chapter 3, he points out that Moses had glory. But as Paul points out in 2 Corinthians, that glory faded. You remember, Moses comes down off the mountain and his glory fades. And Paul points out that's the fading glory of the Old Covenant represented right there. And the writer of the Hebrews says something similar. It is a glory. It's a real glory. But it was a reflected glory. The kind of glory you have when you come into contact with light. But Jesus doesn't merely reflect the Father's glory. He is the Father's glory. He is the exact imprint of the Father's nature. Light does not reflect from Jesus. Light streams from Jesus as he is now enthroned in majesty. Moses, the writer says, was a faithful servant. Listen to all of these words of comparison. Moses was a faithful servant in God's house while Jesus is a faithful son over God's house. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and are boasting in our hope. And so this is the beginning of a series of contrasts that he will make throughout his book between angels and Jesus, Moses and Jesus, the Aaronic priesthood and Jesus, The temple and Jesus and the old covenant institutions and Jesus. It's a greater covenant. A greater covenant with a greater mediator. The king is greater than his servant. Moses was the servant of Christ, but Jesus is the king himself, and he is the source of his kingdom's bounty. Think of that post-resurrection appearance of Jesus in Luke 24, where he comes back to the upper room, where he broke bread and instituted the Lord's Supper. He returns there with all of his disciples gathered there and they are astonished as he appears in the midst of them saying, peace be to you. Wherever the king appears, he announces peace. He is the peace and health and joy and happiness of his realm. Wherever the king is, there is goodness and grace. And that's why John says in Revelation 1 that he received his revelation of that heavenly worship when he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day on the Isle of Patmos. Jesus standing in the midst of his seven lampstands speaking to his churches words of judgment and grace. Because it has Christ as its mediator, the new covenant is superior in its basis. It is unconditional, based not in the faithfulness of the Israelites, but in the faithfulness of Jesus, his suffering, his trial, his obedience, his death, his bloodshedding, his resurrection, and his continuing intercession. It's also superior in its scope, not just temporal blessing, long life in the land the Lord your God is giving you, But everlasting salvation. And not just for Israel, but for all nations. It's anchored in God's sworn oath. All this I will do, rather than in the people's oath, all this we will do. And instead of Moses splashing blood on the people in accordance with their oath, Jesus in the upper room says, this is my blood of the everlasting covenant. He is giving a kingdom with better promises and a better mediator. He's the benefactor and we're the beneficiaries. And that's why later in Hebrews he will say, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us worship God with reverence and awe. And then finally, it's a greater rest. And this is where the lion's share of his interpretation of Psalm 95 comes into the picture. In the rabbinical writings, the Jewish writings, about the same time as Hebrews, a little before, it's interesting, Psalm 95 was interpreted by the rabbis as a messianic psalm, pointing forward to not just a day, but to an age, the messianic age, the Sabbath referred to the age of the Messiah. The therefore here indicates once again the application. Throughout this chapter, he goes back and forth between the therefores and the so thens, the historical grounding and the practical application. This generation failed to enter the temporal rest in Canaan through unbelief. And it's referred to as the day of testing in the wilderness. Again, like Adam being tested in the garden. Trial, works, leading to rest, enfronment, guard, subdue, and keep. But instead, they put God on trial. Even though they saw my works, God says, for 40 years. Even though they saw my works. And the implication there is, look at you. You have seen God's works. You can talk to living apostles, or at least to people who knew them. Some of you may have actually been there when some of these miracles were performed. Talk about signs and wonders for 40 years. Signs and wonders of a greater covenant, a greater king. Not just the messenger, but the king himself performed these wonders before you. And now are you putting him to the test? So this rest, this rest that we're talking about is both a time and a place. It's a place, the land of rest, Canaan, and a time called today, represented by that one day of the week on Saturday in the Old Covenant. Now the resurrection has moved this Lord's Day to Sunday with the civil and ceremonial laws falling off, all of that part of the Old Covenant becoming obsolete. And yet, the day remains. And so what's the application? He says, take care not to be drawn away by unbelief, but exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. So that's interesting. As long as it's called today. Because later, in Hebrews, he'll talk about the day of the Lord. Well, that's a different day than today. Today is a good day. The day of the Lord, not so good if you don't enter the promised rest. The day of the Lord is judgment. The day of the Lord is wrath. The clouds, the clouds of God's wrath are being held at bay right now. A hole in those clouds has opened up with Christ's ascension to the right hand of God and the descent of the Holy Spirit to give us faith in Christ, to embrace His gospel. One day, those clouds will close. That today will be over, and the day of the Lord will dawn, and it will be darkness, ominous judgment, thunder and lightning that will make Sinai pale in comparison. Therefore, he says, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. Now, what's really interesting here is he never says, You failed to reach it because you didn't rule and subdue all of the enemies of God. It's not the same office that was given to Adam or to Israel or to Jesus that he actually fulfilled, that we are given here in Hebrews. He simply tells us, hold fast to your confession. Hold fast to your confidence in Christ, your high priest. Persevere in the faith. He who endures to the end will be saved. Christ conquered by accomplishing our redemption. We conquer in him by enduring to the end, even as this is the gift of God, merited by Christ's constant intercession for us at the Father's right hand. Someone once asked Martin Luther, it can't be that easy, can it? Just faith? And Luther replied, you think faith is easy? I think the writer of the Hebrews would have said that. That's what he's saying here, that faith really has to be a gift. We have to endure to the end, holding on to the promise when so much around us seems to speak against it. Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, go in. He has conquered. He's not asking you to conquer. He has conquered. Now, here's the door. Enter in. For good news came to us, he says. Just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them. Why? Because they didn't combine the faith with works, as Rome teaches? No, because it did not meet with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed enter that rest. It's a place, only this time, not any place that you can do a Google search and locate. It's the throne of grace, wherever Christ is present at the right hand of the Father, reigning in grace. And it's interesting he says throne of grace. I think it's the only time throne of grace is used, is in Hebrews. Usually throne of glory. But here it's a throne of grace, mercy, forgiveness, while it lasts. It's a place and it's a time today. What that means, brothers and sisters, is tonight, today, the today that we're in, It's actually the same today that David was in when he penned Psalm 95. It's the same day that the Hebrews were in when the writer to the Hebrews was calling them to today. Because God is in his everlasting Sabbath day. It's always today to God. And wherever that gospel is being preached, just as it was to the fathers, by type and shadow, wherever that gospel is being preached, it's today. The clouds open up and the age to come begins to dawn in this present evil age. Through the means of grace. And that's why Lord's Day 38 talks about the means of grace. Why it's so important to provide for the ministry. To educate ministers who will proclaim God's word. Who will administer the sacraments. To raise up elders who will look after and guide the flock. We are seated now with Christ in heavenly places. That rest has now come. We have entered that rest. It is already inaugurated. Christ is the propitiation for our sins. We can go, as we have gone tonight, into the throne room. To the very throne of grace itself. We've done that tonight. Not through earthly imagery. Not through a tabernacle. Not even through a temple. But we've gone through the veil, which is Christ's flesh. And though, it's not completely consummated. We live in that tension between the already and the not yet. It's not fully consummated. And that's why the writer says, now we don't see everything yet in subjection to him, but we do see Jesus. Adam didn't pull it off. Not everything is subjected to man. But we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, but is now crowned, exalted, King of kings and Lord of lords at the Father's right hand. And it's that tension between the already and the not yet that our catechism highlights in Lord's Day 38. Through the ministry of word and sacrament, the powers of the age to come, as the writer refers to it in chapter 6, the powers of the age to come are breaking in on this present evil age through the word that is preached, through baptism, through the Lord's Supper, through the communion of saints. For through this ministry, each Lord's day, Christ himself is present among us by his word and spirit. And he says, lo, I'm with you even to the end of the age. In verses 14 through 16, finally, of chapter 4, we read, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus, the Son of God let us hold fast our confession for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need that day is still with us and that day as the catechism points out is a beachhead for the glories of the age to come that penetrate not only the Lord's day but using the Lord's day as its beachhead to penetrate all the days of our lives so that even now we begin to enjoy that Sabbath that will be consummately enjoyed when our Lord returns Brothers and sisters, what a wonderful day today is. The space in history to enter into God's everlasting rest. Not to toil for it, not to work for it. This is not a work day. This is a day to rest and bask and feast in what Christ has accomplished for us by His guarding, His subduing, and His keeping so that we may enter His rest through faith because of Him. Let's pray. Father, we thank You that You have given us rest, not only for our bodies, but for our weary souls. Working throughout the week, tired, struggling, wondering sometimes where our bread will come from, sometimes wondering if we're going to be laid off at work, sometimes wondering if perhaps your promises are threatened by the realities of our own hearts and our own lives and our own shortcomings. And yet, with such a great high priest, with such a great covenant, with such a great mediator, with such a great rest, we have nothing else to do but endure to the end in that confidence of that confession that you have given to us anchored in the precious promises of your Son. Help us to cling to these promises, to receive these promises, and help us, Father, to go into the highways and byways and encourage others to come to the sacred feast where they too can be refreshed and enter while it is today before that great day of the Lord. Hear us before we pray in Christ's name. Amen.